Urban Elderly Lower Limb Motor Function And Activities Of Daily Living (adl) Of The Study

Objective: To investigate the current status of "Activity of Daily living" (ADL), the function of lower body, daily activity range, living environment of the senior citizens in Nanjing and the status of the timing configuration of the traffic light in the city, focusing on comparison of the relationship between the lower body function of the senior citizens and their ADL.Methods: This study was conducted in three communities in Nanjing, in May, 2006., using a questionnaire, chair rising test and 10-m walk test. Total 335 community dwellers aged 60 or over were included in this study. The time of traffic light at the streets where there is higher flow of traffic was recorded, and the width of these streets was measured using a tape measure, to calculate the walking speed for crossing the road during the green light.Results:1. The ADL of the senior citizens declined entirely, especially in the activities that needed certain physical fitness. 17.7% of the subjects showed that they were unable to walk for 1 hour without a rest, 37.7% showed that they have difficulty to climb the steps of the buses, 26.2% shows that they need to grip the handrail when getting down the stairs. The three most difficult activities for the elderly in daily living were ranked as: getting up the stairs (36.3%), putting the heavies to a high place (28.7) and fetching bags of rice home. Besides, 16.3% of subjects can't take care of themselves partially and 4.8% entirely.2. 91.3% of the senior citizens lived in the apartment and 57.5% lived in an apartment that is on/above the 3rd floor. 94.6% of the elderly lived in the apartment where no elevators were available and need to get up and down the stairs on their foot. The necessary speed to cross the street according to the current timing configuration of traffic lights was 1.33 m/s. Based on this figure, approximately 20.7% of the elderly aged 70 or over was unable to cross the streets during the green light.3. The results of chair rising test and 10-m walk test, those reflected physical function of lower body, demonstrated that the performance of the subjects aged 70 or over was worse than those who aged 60-69 (p<0.01). Compared with the subjects aged 60-69, decline rates of physical performance in the subjects aged 70 or over were 13.6%-30.9%. The walking speed of the female elderly was slower than the males in two different age group (p<0.01). However, there was no sex-difference in chair rising test.4. The group that is better in chair rising test had better ability to "get down the stairs" and "climb the steps of the buses ". Nevertheless, no significant differences were found in "walking consecutive 1 hour" and "taking care of their lives", when compared the two items among different groups. 5. It was found that the elderly walked faster were also had better ability to "get down the stairs" and "climb the steps of the buses". and this difference was meaningful in terms of statistics. (p<0.01). The walking speed plays a role in the consecutive walking capability (p<0.01). But no identical result was found among the men elderly.Conclusions:1. The ADL declined, in different degrees in the elderly, especially in the activities that needed physical fitness. Due to the difference of the muscular strength, women had more difficulties in such activities. The ability to live independently also declined with increased age.2. Because that most of the apartments the senior citizens now reside are not facilitated with elevators, they have to getting up and down on their foot. Besides, the current timing configuration of the traffic lights compels the elderly to walk faster or even run when passing the street. All those lead to a higher requirement of the physical fitness of their daily activities.3. The physical performance declined with increased age in the elderly. In the chair rising test and 10-m walk test, there was a trend of greater decline among the subjects aged 70 or over when compared with the subjects aged 60-69. Women were found to walk slower than the men.4. The lower body function has a direct impact on the ADL of the senior citizens and most of the figures are quite remarkable. The elderly who had worse performance in the chair rising test and the 10-m walk test showed greater difficulty in the ADL that requires certain physical strength.